


High Hopes Low Life Insurance

by Goldstone_Wolf



Series: High Hopes Low (Blank) [10]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), High Hopes Low Rolls (Web Series)
Genre: Arrows, Blood, Broken Bones, Explosions, Fire, Flashbacks to Bay Hollow, Healing Magic, It's a 2 +1 things, M/M, Major Character Injury, Near-death Experiences, Paddy Has Some Trauma, Someone almost falls off a cliff, They Finally Kiss Though, Well not really, When it's All Burnt Down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23759773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldstone_Wolf/pseuds/Goldstone_Wolf
Summary: Two times Malark saved Paddy and one time Paddy saved him.
Relationships: Malark Dundragon/Paddock "Paddy" Whitlaw
Series: High Hopes Low (Blank) [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692196
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	High Hopes Low Life Insurance

**Author's Note:**

> TWs in tags. My prompt words are arrow, cliff, and fire.  
> Also, I’m no longer on break, but since my local government is trying to save face schools won’t be opening back up until autumn. My mother made a schedule, but since I wake up at five and stay up until ten usually, it won’t affect my writing. She’s trying to keep us sane, but I think it’s too late for that  
> Anyways, into the fray!

i~

“Paddy, get down!”

Someone shoved him from behind, and he heard a pained grunt as they hit the ground. Then they were under a fallen log, a hand slapped over his mouth to muffle any sound. When he opened his eyes to find Malark, he nodded and the hand left.

Something massive snuffled around outside—the archer’s mount, undoubtedly. Eventually, it went away, although Paddy didn’t stop holding his breath for a while. He could feel Malark doing the same, their hearts pounding almost in tandem.

Then they waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Finally, Malark pulled himself off Paddy and helped him up, wincing. “Where did you get hit?” He asked, guiding the assassin to another fallen log nearby.

“Shoulder.” Malark forced through gritted teeth, and Paddy walked around. True to word, there was a wooden shaft protruding from the man’s body, right between his right shoulder and spine.

“This might hurt,” he warned, bracing a hand on Malark’s uninjured shoulder and wrapping the other around the arrow. Malark nodded, and Paddy usd some magic to yank it out. There was a small grunt, but then Paddy was healing the wound (something he’d learned after the magic potion disaster). “Let’s get back to the others.”

It wasn’t the first time Malark had saved him.

He doubted it would be the last.

~

ii~

The next time Malark saved him, they were in the mountains.

It was in the springtime, and the rocky crags were covered in lichen and life. As Ava, Mina, Terra, and even Brio nimbly jumped from one boulder to the other, Malark found himself rolling his eyes and then taking a deep breath. The rolling pine forests around them smelled of fresh mountain air, spring water, and life basking in warm sunshine. It wasn’t a bad view, either—they could see out to the plains in the distance, and the blue-tinged mountains even further away.

As they walked side by side, Malark had listened to Paddy telling stories about his time with the travelling circus for several hours. He’d never been bored, however. There was something about Paddy’s usual, spring-like brightness in his green eyes and his mouth was turned up in its usual sunny grin. While he spoke of a time a lavender tiefling taught him some acrobatics, Malark realised in the back of his mind that Paddy never spoke of Bay Hollow. Of course, Malark knew some—it was burnt to the ground, citizens killed or scattered to the four winds. He’d known because he needed to, in order to take Paddy out. But the elf rarely spoke of his home, or his family.

“It’s so beautiful out here.” Paddy finally said, walking out onto a rock Brio and the others had avoided. Under his feet, it wobbled slightly, but he didn’t seem to notice, taking in the world instead. Looking over his shoulder at Malark, he asked, “Do you ever wonder what it’d be like to live out here?”

There was a massive _crack_ , and time seemed to slow.

Paddy’s eyes widened with horror as he realised _he_ was falling.

Malark jumped forwards as the wood elf fell.

At the last moment, his fingers locked around Paddy’s wrist, yanking him to a stop. Far below, well beyond a fatal fall, the rock shattered apart.

Paddy was gasping, eyes wide as he stared at where he could easily have been. He was shaking, tears welled up in his eyes, and then he looked at Malark. “You’re okay, I’ve got you.” Reaching down, he grabbed Paddy’s arm, under his shoulder, securing his grip, then turned, “Hashaan! Nagar! Little help?”

Even when they got to a mining camp several hours later, Paddy was obviously still shaken. In their cabin, Malark shoved him on the bed, under the blankets, after “lights out”. He curled up at Paddy’s back, arms around the elf’s waist and one leg tangled with his beneath the blankets. Paddy relaxed into him almost immediately, although he still shook even with quiet reassurances.

It was still hours before Paddy finally drifted off, Malark not far behind.

~

+i~

The building they’d been in had exploded.

For a few moments, Paddy stood, numb, outside. Heat swirled around him. Ash painted his face, dusted his clothes and hair as claws of smoke choked the air.

“Paddy, get away from there!” Gwing shouted. A clawed hand pulled him back, and he jolted from his shock. He glanced around, counting heads and counting faces. Someone was missing—he knew that. “Where’s Malark?”

“I think he’s still in there!” Mina shouted, and Paddy’s already pounding heart dropped to his knees.

He didn’t realise he was moving until he was inside.

Except he wasn’t. As the flames roared and embers burned his skin, all he could hear were his lonely footsteps echoing through abandoned streets. Faces flashed through his mind, all he recognised but few he could put names to—Ronan and his mother and Connor and his father and Cara—he couldn’t breathe _he couldn’t breathe **he couldn’t breathe**_ —wait, was that a scream? _Malark._

He couldn’t lose anyone else.

He _wouldn’t_.

_He wouldn’t fail them again._

Running through the flames, lungs burning, he yelled, “ _Malark!”_

“Paddy!” Off to his left. Turning, he raced up the stairs and came to a door. An odd mark covered it, scorched over his family crest. But why was it here this wasn’t Bay Hollow— _“Paddy!_ Help!”

He blinked, and the scorch marks were just scorch marks.

Slamming the door open, he found Malark trapped under a bookcase. “Malark!” Racing to the assassin’s side, he curled his fingers under the metal and yelled when they were burned. Glancing around, he tore his sleeves, wrapped them around his hands, and tried lifting again.

He wasn’t strong enough.

Malark realised it before he did. Reaching up with burned, bleeding fingers, he shoved Paddy away. “You need to go! It’s too dangerous!”

“I’m not leaving you!”

“The smoke will _kill_ you, Paddy! You need to leave— _please!”_

_“I—am—not—leaving—you!”_

Bracing his shoulder under the bookcase and ignoring the reek of burning fabric and flesh, ignoring the blazing pain of fire and superheated metal scorching his bare shoulders, wishing he’d brought his cape even though it and his jacket were still mending so he wasn’t just left in a button-up, he growled and forced it off Malark. Immediately, he realised something. The bookcase had fallen on Malark’s legs. It had broken them.

He couldn’t walk.

By then, the smoke was overwhelming, and he crumpled next to Malark to the scorched wood floor. Fingers played with his hair, tracing along a scraped and bleeding cheek. “You need to get up, Paddy. You need to go—please.” A wracking cough shook Malark’s shoulders, and Paddy met his gaze.

“I’m not…leaving you…” Grunting, he hauled himself up and glanced around. The building was falling apart around them, and Paddy winced as he moved. He couldn’t get them out, he couldn’t even summon a magic spell to protect them. But he wasn’t going to leave Malark to die alone.

And darn him if he didn’t at least use what little protection he had for Malark.

Even if it meant himself.

“Paddy…” Malark trailed off with a weak cough as Paddy shielded him with his body. The smoke was too much for them both, and Paddy smiled weakly at him. Without even thinking, he pressed a kiss to Malark’s hair.

“It’s okay, Malark.” There was a loud creaking above them, and the last thing he saw was the ceiling falling in.

Everything went black for a long, long while.

When he opened his eyes, he was lying on his back. His wounds and head were bandaged. His burnt shoulders and fingers were, too, smelling of some kind of medicine. His makeup was gone, and his body ached like he was an eighty-year-old human who’d run a marathon with no training. Someone was beside him, breathing even and deep, and he tilted his head to the side to see Malark there. The hood and mask were gone, but his face was so bandaged by his mouth and over his nose and cheeks it almost didn’t matter.

Reaching over, Paddy found Malark’s bandaged fingers and curled his own around them. In his sleep, the assassin’s eyes twitched and then cracked open. A brief smile passed between the two before sleep pulled at them again, brought them into a gentle embrace.

He hadn’t lost Malark.

**Author's Note:**

> Y’all will hate me by the end of this week. Both because by then I’ll have written half the HHLR Ao3 tag (I think), and because there’s a healthy dose of angst for you on either Friday or Saturday. Also, y'all, I think that Paddy is currently a target because Bay Hollow was specifically destroyed and then someone hired Malark to kill him. There's something there that we don't know about and I personally can't wait to learn more of.  
> Now, into the fray once more!


End file.
